*
Previously, Kisaragi Chiyo had asked Mari Koike about Miki and received a reply.
[The timing of the last class reunion?]
It was in June, right around the time summer vacation was about to start, when the school could clear some space for everyone to reminisce about their youth.
Kisaragi Chiyo lowered her eyes and looked at the message sent by Mari Koike, mentally matching the date; it happened to be the very first day he moved to Tokyo.
"[Kisaragi-kun, why are you asking this.. Did Miki do something?]" Mari Koike was still typing on the other end.
I knew he wouldn't let it go easily; that guy has been petty ever since high school.
Mari Koike seemed to have quite a few grievances against Miki as well, so he typed very quickly.
I heard other classmates say that Miki's grades weren't originally good enough to get into university; in the end, she managed to get in through a wealthy relative who used some influence. After repeating a year, she finally barely made it into university.
Seeing this, Kisaragi Chiyo's gaze paused, because it wasn't until Mari Koike mentioned the name of the university Miki attended that he realized with shock that he and Miki were actually classmates at the same school.
Mari Koike, do you know what major Miki is studying?
Kisaragi Chiyo suddenly had a hunch.
It seems to be folklore, right? It's truly surprising that Miki chose this major, but I heard that his relative is a folklore professor or something, so it's probably normal, right?
However, that relative of his retired later and wanted to recommend Miki to another professor as a student, but that professor was very busy with work himself, so he rejected Miki.
Alright, Kisaragi Chiyo probably understood by now that what Mari Koike had mentioned earlier—about her getting revenge on Miki by stealing Miki's opportunity and such—was likely referring to this matter.
Kisaragi Chiyo recalled that her teacher originally had no intention of taking on any more students, but considering that she was about to graduate and had no one under her command, he eventually took on another one.
And that person was Iijima Ritsu.
After repeating a grade, Miki would likely be in the same year as Iijima Ritsu. Kisaragi Chiyo also understood her teacher's personality; if he chose Iijima Ritsu instead of Miki, it could only mean that Iijima Ritsu was more outstanding and better met his standards for students.
As for Miki, after making some inquiries, he naturally blamed his failure to be selected on him. Perhaps he believed that it was under his instigation that the teacher chose Iijima Ritsu instead of him.
As for how Miki obtained his photo and address?
Kisaragi Chiyo did not care about this matter. In today's society, which is the information age, it is impossible to leave no trace of information whatsoever under normal living circumstances.
As long as one is willing to put in a little effort, his address can always be found.
As for the photos, it was even simpler. Every club member had a backup of the activity photos from back then, so it wouldn't be difficult for Miki to get them through others.
So.. it was truly troublesome and boring.
After getting to the bottom of things, Kisaragi Chiyo quickly lost interest in Miki and this threatening letter incident.
Just as he was thinking about finding something else to pass the time, a strong sensation of being watched made him instinctively lift his head.
But when he looked around, he found nothing; that sensation of being scrutinized by a naked gaze vanished in an instant.
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
Fine, Kisaragi Chiyo sat back down, he soon discovered that as long as he lowered his head to do something else, that sticky gaze would quickly fall upon him.
Bit by bit, as if wanting to peel back the flesh to see clearly, Kisaragi Chiyo lowered his eyes, concealing the faint smile within them.
He began to wonder just how much Hara Kenji could endure.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Eye contact is a spiritual kiss between humans, devoid of ***.
A film review from "Portrait of a Lady on Fire"
Thank you for the support, my little angels. Mwah everyone 030
Chapter 91
A red vintage Toyota AE86 sped along the wide, suburban Route 51. Kisaragi Chiyo sat in the back seat looking at a laptop, while the goldfish bell pendant hanging from the rearview mirror in the driver's seat let out crisp, continuous sounds with the wind rushing in from the windows.
[Before entering that highway, we all thought it was just an ordinary paranormal investigation.. You know how it is, there are so many fake, boring paranormal rumors circulating online that no one takes them seriously, we were no different..]
【But we soon realized we were wrong in the most extreme way, just like that post said. This is a highway with no end, where the scenery repeats endlessly.. At first, everyone was very excited, laughing and talking, but after that.. we were trapped. We can't get out of here. Are we going to die? 】
【The car ran out of gas, it's getting dark. Hezi said she saw something strange, but maybe it was just a bird.】
[We had no choice but to walk, but thank goodness, we finally spotted a car.]
【The car still has two-thirds of its fuel left, the keys are still in the ignition. We found some food, but it looks like it expired three years ago. How strange.】
We waited at the spot for a while without seeing the owner. Another companion traveling with us said that we should drive off first; at worst, we would only be caught by the police after calling it in, so leaving this godforsaken place was what mattered most.
Hezi's expression looked terrible, perhaps due to the immense psychological pressure; she was constantly paranoid. Sitting in the passenger seat, she was sweating profusely, her complexion was poor. After chatting with me and the companion sitting in the back for a while, she finally could not endure our noise and screamed.
"Yamamoto, who are you talking to?" Hezi asked in a breakdown, the companion in charge of driving also repeatedly looked toward the back seat.
I am talking to ■■■, of course..
【Mid-sentence, Yamamoto suddenly froze.}
[I also shut my mouth and looked at the collapsing Hezi with confusion]
..
Why don't you all stay behind?
*
The forum post ended here; no matter how much others followed up afterward, the original poster never replied to any more questions.
Regarding the events involving Route 51 mentioned in this post, everyone had their own speculations. Most suspected that this so-called record of a paranormal event was nothing more than a fabricated story created by the author to attract attention and cause a sensation.
This type of story is extremely common on forums, many have already been proven to be fabricated.
Of course, there is also a small minority who speculate that the poster's words are true, that the reason they can no longer reply is that they have already met with disaster, or perhaps they have encountered some terrifying attack on the highway.
A few others expressed doubt regarding the original poster's perspective as a bystander, mentioning that rather than a victim, the original poster seemed more like they were playing the role of a 'ghost' in the story.
Even more importantly, some pointed out that there seemed to be a difference in the narrative tone between the beginning and the end of the story in the post, suggesting they did not sound like the same person.
*
As the discussion around this post grew increasingly popular, it attracted many other paranormal enthusiasts from the forum.
That highway must be referring to Route 51, right?
Someone replied like this: 【That's an old rumor from five or six years ago. Plenty of people went there back then and found nothing; this post might just be a hoax.】
Following that reply, Kisaragi Chiyo searched the forum for information regarding Route 51. She had originally thought she wouldn't find anything at all, but to her surprise, a piece of information actually popped up after another search.
It was a post from five years ago, it didn't mention much information regarding the highway; the garbled language made one wonder about the poster's mental state. The entire content of the post emphasized that Route 51 was a man-eating highway, that one must never drive forward upon seeing signs related to Route 51.
Kisaragi Chiyo scrolled through the replies layer by layer, quickly reaching the very bottom.
The last two floors were posted a month apart.
[Thank God, I've finally left that damn Route 51 behind]
[Damn it, no.. it didn't let me go, it's coming for me]
*
After reviewing the information one more time, Kisaragi Chiyo shut down the computer and reached out to rub her aching eyes. As she raised her head, she saw, quite unsurprisingly, a pair of dark purple eyes staring intently at her through the rearview mirror.
"Focus on driving," Kisaragi Chiyo reminded him calmly.
He stretched his stiff neck and turned his head to look at the scenery rapidly receding outside the car window. Vast stretches of wheat fields grew on both sides of the road; driving along this highway always gave him the sensation of the sea parting like Moses.
“Matsuda Jinpei,” Kisaragi Chiyo called out. The man sitting in the passenger seat turned his head; he was wearing a pair of sunglasses, his hair, styled in elegant curls, remained completely undisturbed by the wind.
Instead, Hara Kenji, the only man present with long hair, was extremely distressed throughout the journey. Although he had considered cutting his hair, it would simply grow back in just half a day.
"It's truly miraculous." This strange situation left Kisaragi Chiyo marveling repeatedly. He took Hara Kenji's regrown hair in his hand and felt it; the cool strands slipped through his fingers, easily escaping his grasp when caught in his palm.
It was no different from before.
"At least I don't have the trouble of hair loss anymore." Hara Kenji himself was quite optimistic; even when Kisaragi Chiyo was pulling his hair, he didn't feel annoyed by the slight sensation of his scalp being stretched.
He just stood to the side, maintaining a perfect distance, letting Kisaragi Chiyo lose interest after satisfying his curiosity.
Passing by, Matsuda Jinpei noticed the polite smile on Hara Kenji's face and let out an ambiguous sneer.
The teal eyes swept over Hara Kenji before settling, saying nothing, as he naturally tucked Kisaragi Chiyo under his arm and carried him away.
Kisaragi Chiyo, suddenly tucked under Matsuda Jinpei's arm, was completely bewildered. Although he didn't know what was happening, out of trust for Matsuda Jinpei, he obediently followed him away.
Only Hara Kenji was left standing there, watching the two of them walk away, their backs close together, as the polite smile on his face gradually faded.
It was the third day since Hara Kenji had regained his memories, on this very day, Kisaragi Chiyo suddenly announced that they were going to search for that so-called Route 51.
*
"What's wrong?" Matsuda Jinpei turned his head, his sunglasses sliding down slightly due to the movement, revealing a pair of teal eyes.
"Don't you think this place is strange?" Kisaragi Chiyo gazed out the window. The wheat in the fields reached nearly to chest height; the green and yellow wheat should have been a scene of vibrant life, but Kisaragi only felt a sense of death, as if she were staring at a corpse.
"Rather, it would be stranger if a place like this weren't strange." Matsuda Jinpei had accepted everything about the current situation; after all, once they had stepped onto Route 51, a highway that didn't exist on any map, everything they saw had already become disconnected from reality.
"Even if a Godzilla were to suddenly pop up and block our way right now, I wouldn't be surprised." Although Matsuda Jinpei's tone was lighthearted, his eyes remained vigilant, staring intently at the surrounding wheat fields.
It's too quiet here," Hara Kenji spoke up. "Setting aside the fact that the growth of the wheat doesn't match the current season.. there's no sound of insects or birds here. It seems like there's nothing except for the sound of the wind blowing through the wheat field.
"In horror movies, wheat fields usually represent an unknown danger." Hara Kenji couldn't understand why Kisaragi Chiyo wanted to take such a risk, but he couldn't just let her come here; even with Matsuda Jinpei being here, he still felt uneasy.
In a wheat field, it's easy to lose one's sense of direction, sounds can easily become blurred, making it impossible to tell how near or far they are. Emotions are amplified, the unknown can spark infinite associations, eventually causing a person to be overwhelmed by their own fear.
“So, Kisaragi..” Hara Kenji organized his words, “Do you have some reason that makes it necessary for you to come here?”
"It's nothing, really." Kisaragi Chiyo withdrew her gaze and settled into a comfortable position in the back seat. Wearing her usual black haori, her expression appeared somewhat cold and weary as she lowered her eyes.
Naturally, Kisaragi Chiyo had not slept well these past few days.
Honestly, give him a break; anyone being stared at from every possible angle, three hundred and sixty degrees, all day long, would find it impossible to sleep peacefully.
Staring while eating, staring while working, staring while reading, staring while sleeping.. those dark purple eyes in the shadows were everywhere; even when Kisaragi Chiyo occasionally bent down to pick something up, she could see them from under the bed.
The dense cluster of eyes was like the compound eyes of an insect; even though it was the second time seeing them, Kisaragi Chiyo still felt a chill run through her heart.
Fine.. Kisaragi Chiyo could barely tolerate even that kind of behavior, but the fact that it even followed her into the bathroom was another matter entirely.
When Kisaragi Chiyo brought the twisted tentacles before Hara Kenji's eyes, the literally annoying Evil Spirit was preparing dinner.